Author: Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.

Sep 21: Out of left field

SEPTEMBER 21, 1888 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – According to Mark Lamster‘s book, Spalding’s World Tour, three Chicago White Stockings (later known as the Cubs) players were arrested on this date in 1888 for flirting with Mrs. Seth Blood, the proprietor of a house just beyond the wall at old West Side Park. Word of the “flirting” apparently got back to husband Seth, and the next thing you know the police started arresting people. What kind of “house” Mrs. Blood ran was was never clarified.

West Side Park, or West Wide Grounds, as it was sometimes referred to, was located near what is now Cook County Hospital, just south of the Eisenhower Expressway on Chicago’s west side. Until 2016, it was the site of the last Chicago Cubs World Series championship in 1908. There were actually two different parks on the site, one from roughly 1885 to 1891, and a second West Side Park from 1893 to 1915.

West Side Park is also said to be the origin of the saying “that came out of left field,” meaning preposterous, irrational or crazy. As the story goes, just beyond the left field fence of the ball park in the early 1900’s was a mental hospital called the Neuropsychiatric Institute. Irrational comments could be heard emanating from the insane asylum, as it was referred to at the time, hence the idiom, “that came out of left field.”

Contributing sources:
Spalding’s World Tour, by Mark Lamster, 2006, published by Public Affairs, New York
West Side Park
Chicago Sun-Times, April 2, 2006, by Mark Hoekstra

Sep 20: Ripken ends streak

SEPTEMBER 20, 1998 | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – Cal Ripken didn’t play for the Baltimore Orioles on this date in 1998, the first time he was not in the lineup in over 16 years. It marked the end of his 2,632 consecutive game streak, a record Ripken held since breaking Lou Gehrig’s 2,130 game streak on September 5, 1995.

So, Cal Ripken is best known for the streak, but how good a ballplayer was he?

Pretty good.

  • 431 career home runs (the most by a shortstop – 345)
  • 3,184 hits (14th all-time)
  • 1,695 runs batted in (averaged 81 per year over 21 years)
  • 1,647 runs scored
  • .276 lifetime batting average
  • Started 17 all-star games at short
  • Two-time Most Valuable Player

Cal Ripken was exceptional and durable, while playing one of the most demanding positions on the field for most of his career — shortstop. It’s unlikely his streak will ever be broken. The closest any active player has come is Miguel Tajada who played in 1,152 straight games, but that streak ended in June 2007. 

Then again, they said Gehrig’s streak would never be broken.

Contributing sources:
Career stats leaders (Baseball Reference)
Ripken’s last game (Baseball-Almanac)

Sep 18: Sometimes it is over

SEPTEMBER 18 | VARIOUS CITIES – So you’re down because your team is out of the race, maybe not mathematically but, what are the odds? Well, not good, but it has happened.

Here are some historic comebacks, and collapses, and where the teams stood on this date — September 18th.

1951 New York Giants (today’s San Francisco Giants) – This was a dramatic comeback highlighted by Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard ‘round the world,” but the drama began months before. 

The Giants were 13 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 12th but came all the way back to force a playoff, which the Giants won, and went on to the World Series. On this date the Giants were still 3.5 games out. It was more precarious for the Giants back then though because the schedule was shorter, and they only had 8 games left. 

1964 St. Louis Cardinals – The Cardinals were still 6 games out of first place on September 18th. What really helped St. Louis was the mammoth collapse of the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. This will give teams not mathematically eliminated hope. The Phillies lost 11 of their last 14 games. But the Cardinals won 11 of their last 16. The Cardinals won the pennant.

2007 Colorado Rockies – The Rockies were still 5 and a half games out on September 18th, but won 14 of their last 15 games to tie the Arizona Diamondbacks and force a one game playoff for the NL wildcard spot. The Rockies made it to the World Series that year, losing to the Red Sox.

1995 Seattle Mariners – They trailed the Anaheim Angels by 13 games on August 3rd but went on to win the division. On this date the Mariners were still 2 games out.

1978 New York Yankees – The Yankees trailed the Boston Red Sox by 14 games on July 20th but went on to win the division and the World Series. On September 18 they were 2.5 games ahead of the Red Sox.

1969 New York Mets – They were 10 games behind the Chicago Cubs on August 14th but the Cubs took a nosedive while the Mets closed out the season 38-11 on the way to a World Series championship. It wasn’t a nail-biter at the end. On this date in 1969 the Mets had a 5 game lead with 13 left.

1914 Boston Braves (today’s Atlanta Braves) – Few people are still around who remember the Braves comeback of 1914. They were 15 games out on July 6th. They went on to win the pennant by 10.5 games. On this date the Braves were up by 3 games.

Contributing sources:
BNet 
BaseballRace.com

Sep 17: End of an ERA

SEPTEMBER 17, 1980 | ARLINGTON, TEXAS – An era came to an end on this date in 1980. Oakland A’s starter Rick Langford got the hook after giving up a two-run homer to the Texas Rangers‘ Rusty Staub. Langford had pitched 22 consecutive complete games (he was one out from his 23rd). Langford would finish the 1980 season with 28 complete games. Burt Blyleven had 24 in 1985, but no one in either league has come close since. Langford was a ways from the consecutive complete games record of 39 set by Jack Taylor of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1904.

Baseball Almanac (see Contributing Sources) has an interesting list of complete game leaders throughout history. Thirty and 40 complete games a season by a starting pitcher were not uncommon in the early 20th century. Jack Chesbro threw 48 for the New York Highlanders (today’s Yankees) in 1904. The list is full of pitchers with 20 and 30 complete games a season until the late 80’s.

No one in either league has reached double digits since Randy Johnson‘s 12 in 1999. Roy Halladay led the American League in complete games in 2007 (7) and 2008 (9). Brandon Webb led the NL in ’07 with 4. C. C. Sabathia led the NL in ’08 with 7.

The stat that’s gone up since complete games have gone down is saves.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
September 17, 1980 Rangers-A’s box score/play-by-play
BASEBALL-ALMANAC: Complete games over the years

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
September 17, 1980 Rangers-A’s box score   
Complete games over the years  

SEP 16: RBI machine

SEPTEMBER 16, 1924 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Twelve runs batted in is a pretty good month for many ball players. Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals had twelve RBI in one game on this date in 1924. He went six for six that day; three singles, a double and two home runs helping St. Louis beat the Brooklyn Robins 17-3.

Certainly not a household name the likes of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb or Honus Wagner, but “Sunny” Jim Bottomley had a pretty good career, at least offensively. He played 16 years for the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.

He had a career batting average of .310. He drove in more than 100 RBIs six times, and had 219 career home runs. Bottomley’s best year was 1929 for the Cardinals when he hit .314, hit 29 home runs, drove in 137 runs and only struck out 54 times. 

Fielding was another story for the Oglesby, Illinois native. Except for one game at second, the only position he ever played was first, the least challenging position — no offense to all the gold glove first baseman out there. Four times Bottomley committed 20 or more errors in a season – a lot for a first baseman. For example, today’s Frank Thomas, not known for his fielding, that’s why he’s primarily a DH, never committed more than 15, and that was in 150 games. Bottomley had 24 errors in 1924 when he played 133 games. Fortunately he could hit. 

Contributing sources:
The National Pastime: A Review of Baseball History, Page 21, 2007 by SABR (Society of American Baseball Research), “Sunny Jim Bottomley’s Big Day,” by David W. Smith www.retrosheet.org/